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<©li) J'outf) Utaflctjaf. 


No. 180. 


% Garrison’s First 

\\ 


Anti-slavery 
Address in 


Boston. 



Address at Park Street Church, Boston, July 4, 1829. 

It is natural that the return of a day which established the 
liberties of a brave people should be hailed by them with more 
than ordinary joy; and it is their duty as Christians and patriots 
to celebrate it with signal tokens of thanksgiving. 

Fifty-three years ago the Fourth of July was a proud day 
for our country. It clearly and accurately defined the rights of 
man; it made no vulgar alterations in the established usages of 
society; it presented a revelation adapted to the common sense 
of mankind; it vindicated the omnipotence of public opinion over 
the machinery of kingly government; it shook, as with the voice 
of a great earthquake, thrones which w T ere seemingly propped up 
with Atlantean pillars; it gave an impulse to the heart of the world, 
which yet thrills to its extremities. 

[The orator then proceeded to speak of the degeneracy of the national 
jubilee, from an occasion distinguished for rationality of feeling and 
purity of purpose to a day marked by reckless and profligate behavior, 
vain boasting, and the foolish assumption that no dangers could ever 
assail or threaten the republic. To him the prevalence of infidelity, the 
compulsory desecration of the “holy Sabbath,” the ravages of intem¬ 
perance, the profligacy of the press, the corruptness of party politics, 
were all sources of danger and causes for alarm; and he briefly con¬ 
sidered them before he took up slavery, the main theme of his discourse.] 

I speak not as a partisan or an opponent of any man or measures, 
when I say that our politics are rotten to the core. We boast of 

77 






2 




our freedom, who go shackled to the polls, year after year, by tens 
and hundreds and thousands! We talk of free agency, who are 
the veriest machines—the merest automata—in the hands of un¬ 
principled jugglers! We prate of integrity, and virtue, and in¬ 
dependence, who sell our birthright for office, and who, nine times 
in ten, do not get Esau’s bargain,—no, not even a mess of pottage! 
Is it republicanism to say that the majority can do no wrong? 
Then I am not a republican. Is it aristocracy to say that the 
people sometimes shamefully abuse their high trust? Then I am 
an aristocrat. It is not the appreciation, but the abuse of liberty, 
to withdraw altogether from the polls, or to visit them merely as 
a matter of form, without carefully investigating the merits of 
candidates. The republic does not bear a charmed life: our 
prescriptions administered through the medium of the ballot- 
box—the mouth of the political body—may kill or cure, accord¬ 
ing to the nature of the disease and our wisdom in applying the 
remedy. It is possible that a people may bear the title of free¬ 
men who execute the work of slaves. To the dullest observers 
of the signs of the times it must be apparent that we aVe rapidly 
approximating to this condition. . . . 

But there is another evil, which, if we had to contend against 
nothing else, should make us quake for the issue. It is a gan¬ 
grene preying upon our vitals, an earthquake rumbling under our 
feet, a mine accumulating materials for a national catastrophe. 
It should make this a day of fasting and prayer, not of boisterous 
merriment and idle pageantry, a day of great lamentation, not of 
congratulatory joy. It should spike every cannon, and haul down 
every banner. Our garb should be sackcloth, our heads bowed 
in the dust, our supplications for the pardon and assistance 
of Heaven. 

Last week this city was made breathless by a trial of consider¬ 
able magnitude. The court chamber was inundated for hours, 
day after day, with a dense and living tide which swept along like 
the rush of a mountain torrent. Tiers of human bodies were piled 
up to the walls, with almost miraculous condensation and in¬ 
genuity. It seemed as if men abhorred a vaccuum equally with 
Nature: they would suspend themselves, as it were, by a nail, 
and stand upon air with the aid of a peg. Although it was a 
barren, ineloquent subject, and the crowd immense, there was no 
perceptible want of interest, no evidence of impatience. The 
cause was important, involving the reputation of a distinguished 
citizen. There was a struggle for mastery between two giants, 
78 


Grift 

Society 


? s 




3 

a test of strength in tossing mountains of law. The excitement 
was natural. * 

I stand up here in a more solemn court, to assist in a far greater 
cause; not to impeach the character of one man, but of a whole 
people; not to recover the sum of a hundred thousand dollars, but 
to obtain the liberation of two millions of wretched, degraded 
beings, who are pining in hopeless bondage, over whose sufferings 
scarcely an eye weeps, or a heart melts, or a tongue pleads either 
to God or man. I regret that a better advocate had not been 
found, to enchain your attention and to warm your blood. What¬ 
ever fallacy, however, may appear in the argument, there is no flaw 
in the indictment; what the speaker lacks, the cause will supply. 

Sirs, I am not come to tell you that slavery is a curse, debasing 
in its effect, cruel in its operation, fatal in its continuance. The 
day and the occasion require no such revelation. I do not claim 
the discovery as my own, that “all men are born equal,” and that 
among their inalienable rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness.” Were I addressing any other than a free and Chris¬ 
tian assembly, the enforcement of this truth might be pertinent. 
Neither do I intend to analyze the horrors of slavery for your in¬ 
spection, nor to freeze your blood with authentic recitals of savage 
cruelty. Nor will time allow me to explore even a furlong of that 
immense wilderness of suffering which remains unsubdued in our 
land. I take it for granted that the existence of these evils is ac¬ 
knowledged, if not rightly understood. My object is to define 
and enforce our duty, as Christians and Philanthropists. 

On a subject so exhaustless it will be impossible, in the moiety 
of an address, to unfold all the facts which are necessary to its 
full development. In view of it my heart swells up like a living 
fountain, which time cannot exhaust, for it is perpetual. Let 
this be considered as the preface of a noble work, which your in¬ 
ventive sympathies must elaborate and complete. 

I assume as distinct and defensible propositions:— 

I. That the slaves of this country, whether we consider their 
moral, intellectual, or social condition, are pre-eminently entitled 
to the prayers and sympathies and charities of the American 
people; and their claims for redress are as strong as those of any 
Americans could be in a similar condition. 

II. That, as the free States—by which I mean non-slavehold- 

* The case was that of Farnum, Executor of Tuttle Hubbard, vs. Brooks, and was 
heard in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The “two giants” in opposition were William 
Wirt, ex-Attorney-General of the United States, and Daniel Webster. Wirt’s eloquence made 
a great impression. (Boston Traveller, June 23, 30, 1829; Columbian Centinel, June 27.) 


79 


4 


ing States—are constitutionally involved in the guilt of slavery 
by adhering to a national compact that sanctions it, and in the 
danger by liability to be called upon for aid in case of insurrection, 
they have the right to remonstrate against its continuance, and it 
is their duty to assist in its overthrow. 

III. That no justificative plea for the perpetuity of slavery 
can be found in the condition of its victims; and no barrier against 
our righteous interference, in the laws which authorize the buying, 
selling, and possessing of slaves, nor in the hazard of a collision 
with slaveholders. 

IV. That education and freedom will elevate our colored 
population to a rank with the white, making them useful, intelli¬ 
gent, and peaceable citizens. 

In the first place, it will be readily admitted that it is the duty 
of every nation primarily to administer relief to its own necessities, 
to cure its own maladies, to instruct its own children, and to watch 
over its own interests. He is “worse than an infidel” who neglects 
his own household, and squanders his earnings upon strangers; 
and the policy of that nation is unwise which seeks to proselyte 
other portions of the globe at the expense of its safety and happi¬ 
ness. Let me not be misunderstood. My benevolence is neither 
contracted nor selfish. I pity that man whose heart is not larger 
than a whole continent. I despise the littleness of that patriotism 
which blusters only for its own rights, and, stretched to its utmost 
dimensions, scarcely covers its native territory; which adopts as 
its creed the right to act independently, even to the verge of licen¬ 
tiousness, without restraint, and to tyrannize wherever it can with 
impunity. This sort of patriotism is common. I suspect the 
reality, and deny the productiveness, of that piety which confines 
its operations to a particular spot—if that spot be less than the 
whole earth; nor scoops out, in every direction, new channels for 
the waters of life. Christian charity, while it “begins at home,” 
goes abroad in search of misery. It is as copious as the sun in 
heaven. It does not, like the Nile, make a partial inundation, 
and then withdraw; but it perpetually overflows, and fertilizes 
every barren spot. It is restricted only by the exact number of 
God’s suffering creatures. But I mean to say that, while we are 
aiding and instructing foreigners, we ought not to forget our own 
degraded countrymen; that neither duty nor honesty requires 
us to defraud ourselves, that we may enrich others. 

The condition of the slaves, in a religious point of view, is 
deplorable, entitling them to a higher consideration, on our part, 
80 


5 


than any other race; higher than the Turks or Chinese, for they 
have the privileges of instruction; higher than the Pagans, for 
they are not dwellers in a gospel land; higher than our red men 
of the forest, for we do not bind them with gyves nor treat them. 
as chattels. 

And here let me ask, What has Christianity done, by direct 
effort, for our slave population? Comparatively nothing. She 
has explored the isles of the ocean for objects of commiseration; 
but, amazing stupidity, she can gaze without emotion on a 
multitude of miserable beings at home, large enough to constitute 
a nation of freemen, whom tyranny has heathenized by law. 
In her public services they are seldom remembered, and in he. 
private donations they are forgotten. From one end of the coun¬ 
try to the other her charitable societies form golden links of 
benevolence, and scatter their contributions like raindrops over a 
parched heath; but they bring no sustenance to the perishing 
slave. The blood of souls is upon her garments, yet she heeds 
not the stain. The clankings of the prisoner’s chains strike upon 
her ear, but they cannot penetrate her heart. 

I have said that the claims of the slaves for redress are as strong 
as those of any Americans could be, in a similar condition. Does 
any man deny the position ? The proof, then, is found in the fact 
that a very large proportion of our colored population were born 
on our soil, and are therefore entitled to all the privileges of Ameri¬ 
can citizens. This is their country by birth, not by adoption. 
Their children possess the same inherent and unalienable rights 
as ours, and it is a crime of the blackest dye to load them with 
fetters. 

Ev/ery Fourth of July our Declaration of Independence is 
produced, with a sublime indignation, to set forth the tyranny of 
the mother country and to challenge the admiration of the world. 
But what a pitiful detail of grievances does this document present 
in comparison with the wrongs which our slaves endure! In the 
one case, it is hardly the plucking of a hair from the head; in the 
other, it is the crushing of a live body on the wheel,—the stings of 
the wasp contrasted with the tortures of the Inquisition. Before 
God, I must say that such a glaring contradiction as exists be¬ 
tween our creed and practice the annals of six thousand years 
cannot parallel. In view of it I am ashamed of my country. 
I am sick of our unmeaning declamation in praise of liberty and 
equality, of our hypocritical cant about the unalienable rights 
of man. I could not, for my right hand, stand up before a Euro- 

81 


6 


pean assembly, and exult that I am an American citizen, and de¬ 
nounce the usurpations of a kingly government as wicked and 
unjust; or, should I make the attempt, the recollection of my 
country’s barbarity and despotism would blister my lips, and cover 
my cheeks with burning blushes of shame. 

> , Will this be termed a rhetorical flourish? Will any man coldly 
accuse me of intemperate zeal? I will borrow, then, a ray of 
humanity from one of the brightest stars in our American galaxy, 
whose light will gather new effulgence to the end of time. “This, 
sirs, is a cause that would be dishonored and betrayed if I con¬ 
tented myself with appealing only to the understanding. It is 
too cold, and its processes are too slow for'the occasion. I desire 
to thank God that, since he has given me an intellect so fallible, he 
has impressed upon me an instinct that is sure. On a question 
of shame and honor—liberty and oppression—reasoning is some¬ 
times useless, and worse. I feel the decision in my pulse: if it 
throws no light upon the brain, it kindles a fire at the heart.” . . . 

I come to my second proposition,—the right of the free States 
to remonstrate against the continuance, and to assist in the over¬ 
throw of slavery. 

This, I am aware, is a delicate subject, surrounded with many 
formidable difficulties. But if delay only adds to its intricacy, 
wherefore shun an immediate investigation? I know that we 
of the North affectedly believe that we have no local interest in 
the removal of this great evil; that the slave States can take care 
of themselves, and that any proffered assistance, on our part, 
would be rejected as impertinent, dictatorial, or meddlesome; 
and that we have no right to lift up even a note of remonstrance. 
But I believe that these opinions are crude, preposterous, dis¬ 
honorable, unjust. Sirs, this is a business in which, as members 
of one great family, we have a common interest; but we take no 
responsibility, either individually or collectively. Our hearts 
are cold, our blood stagnates in our veins. We act, in relation 
to the slaves, as if they were something lower than the brutes that 
perish. 

On this question, I ask no support from the injunction of Holy 
Writ, which says, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law 
and the prophets.” I throw aside the common dictates of hu¬ 
manity. I assert the right of the free States to demand a gradual 
abolition of slavery, because, by its continuance, they participate 
in the guilt thereof, and are threatened with ultimate destruction; 
82 


7 


because they are bound to watch over the interests of the whole 
country without reference to territorial divisions; because their 
white population is nearly double that of the slave States, and the 
voice of this overwhelming majority should be potential; because 
they are now deprived of their just influence in the councils of 
the nation; because it is absurd and anti-republican to suffer 
property to be represented as men, and vice versa)* because it 
gives the South an unjust ascendancy over other portions of terri¬ 
tory, and a power which may be perverted on every occasion. . . . 

Now I say that, on the broad system of equal rights, this mon¬ 
strous inequality should no longer be tolerated. If it cannot be 
speedily put down—not by force, but by fair persuasion; if we 
are always to remain shackled by unjust Constitutional provisions, 
when the emergency that imposed them has long since passed 
away; if we must share in the guilt and danger of destroying the 
bodies and souls of men, as the price oj our Union; if the slave 
States will haughtily spurn our assistance, and refuse to consult 
the general welfare,—then the fault is not ours if a separation 
eventually take place. . . . 

It may be objected that the laws of the slave States form in¬ 
surmountable barriers to any interference on our part. 

Answer. I grant that we have not the right, and I trust not the 
disposition, to use coercive measures. But do these laws hinder 
our prayers, or obstruct the flow of our sympathies? Cannot our 
charities alleviate the condition of the slave, and perhaps break 
his fetters? Can we not operate upon public sentiment (the 
lever that can move the moral world) by way of remonstrance, 
advice, or entreaty ? Is Christianity so powerful that she can tame 
the red men of our forests, and abolish the Burman caste, and over¬ 
throw the gods of Paganism, and liberate lands over which the 
darkness of Superstition has lain for ages, and yet so weak, in 
her own dwelling-place, that she can make no impression upon 
her civil code ? Can she contend successfully with cannibals, and 
yet be conquered by her own children? 

Suppose that, by a miracle, the slaves should suddenly become 
white. Would you shut your eyes upon their sufferings, and 
calmly talk of Constitutional limitations? No, your voice would 
peal in the ears of the taskmasters like deep thunder; you would 
carry the Constitution by force, if it could not be taken by treaty; 
patriotic assemblies would congregate at the corners of every 

* By the three-fifths representation clause of the Federal Constitution, Art. I., 
Sect, ii., 3. 

83 


8 


street; the old Cradle of Liberty would rock to a deeper tone than 
ever echoed therein at British aggression; the pulpit would acquire 
new and unusual eloquence from our holy religion. The argu¬ 
ment, that these white slaves are degraded, would not then obtain. 
You would say, It is enough that they are white and in bondage, 
and they ought immediately to be set free. You would multiply 
your schools of instruction and your temples of worship, and rely 
on them for security. . . . 

But the plea is prevalent that any interference by the free 
States, however benevolent or cautious it might be, would only 
irritate and inflame the jealousies of the South, and retard the 
cause of emancipation. If any man believes that slavery can be 
abolished without a struggle with the worst passions of human 
nature, quietly, harmoniously, he cherishes a delusion. It can 
never be done unless the age of miracles return. No; we must 
expect a collision, full of sharp asperities and bitterness. We 
shall have to contend with the insolence and pride and selfish¬ 
ness of many a heartless being. But these can be easily con¬ 
quered by meekness and perseverance and prayer. 

Sirs, the prejudices of the North are stronger than those of the 
South; they bristle, like so many bayonets, around the slaves; 
they forge and rivet the chains of the nation. Conquer them, 
and the victory is won. The enemies of emancipation take cour¬ 
age from our criminal timidity. They have justly stigmatized 
us, even on the floor of Congress, with the most contemptuous 
epithets. We are (they say) their “white slaves,”! afraid of our 
own shadows, who have been driven back to the wall again and 
again; who stand trembling under their whips; who turn pale, 
retreat, and surrender, at a talismanic threat to dissolve the 
Union. . . . 

It is often despondingly said that the evil of slavery is beyond 
our control. Dreadful conclusion, that puts the seal of death 
upon our country’s existence! If we cannot conquer the monster 
in his infancy, while his cartilages are tender and his limbs power¬ 
less, how shall we escape his wrath when he goes forth a gigantic 
cannibal, seeking whom he may devour? If we cannot safely 
unloose two millions of slaves now, how shall we bind upwards 
of twenty millions at the close of the present century? But there 
is no cause for despair. We have seen how readily, and with what 

fin Henry Adams’s Life of John Randolph we read (p. 281), “On another occasion, 
he [Randolph] is reported as saying of the people of the North, ‘ We do not govern them by 
our black slaves, but by their own white slaves.’ ” 

84 


9 


ease, that horrid gorgon, Intemperance, has been checked in his 

ravages. Let us take courage. Moral influence, when in 

vigorous exercise, is irresistible. It has an immortal essence. It 
can no more be trod out of existence by the iron foot of time, or 
by the ponderous march of iniquity, than matter can be annihi¬ 
lated. It may disappear for a time; but it lives in some shape 
or other, in some place or other, and will rise with renovated 

strength. Let us, then, be up and doing. In the simple and 

stirring language of the stout-hearted Lundy, “all the friends of 
the cause must go to work, keep to work, hold on, and never give 
up.” 

If it be still objected that it would be dangerous to liberate the 
present race of blacks, 

I answer, the emancipation of all the slaves of this genera¬ 
tion is most assuredly out of the question. The fabric, which now 
towers above the Alps, must be taken away brick by brick, and 
foot by foot, till it is reduced so low that it may be overturned 
without burying the nation in its ruins. Years may elapse before 
the completion of the achievement; generations of blacks may go 
down to the grave, manacled and lacerated, without a hope for 
their children; the philanthropists wLo are now pleading in behalf 
of the oppressed may not live to witness the dawn which will 
precede the glorious day of universal emancipation; but the work 
will go on, laborers in the cause will multiply, new resources 
will be discovered, the victory will be obtained, worth the 
desperate struggle of a thousand years. Or, if defeat follow, woe 
to the safety of this people! The nation will be shaken as if by a 
mighty earthquake. A cry of horror, a cry of revenge, will go up 
to heaven in the darkness of midnight, and re-echo from every 
cloud. Blood will flow like water,—the blood of guilty men and 
of innocent women and children. Then will be heard lamenta¬ 
tions and weeping, such as will blot out the remembrance of the 
horrors of St. Domingo. The terrible judgments of an incensed 
God will complete the catastrophe of republican America. 

And since so much is to be done for our country; since so many 
prejudices are to be dispelled, obstacles vanquished, interests 
secured, blessings obtained; since the cause of emancipation must 
progress heavily, and meet with much unhallowed opposition,— 
why delay the work? There must be a beginning, and now is a 
propitious time,—perhaps the last opportunity that will be granted 
us by a long-suffering God. No temporizing, lukewarm measures 
will avail aught. We must put our shoulders to the wheel, and 

85 


10 


heave with our united strength. Let us not look coldly on and see 
our Southern brethren * contending single-handed against an all- 
powerful foe,—faint, weary, borne down to the earth. We are 
all alike guilty. Slavery is strictly a national sin. New England 
money has been expended in buying human flesh; New r England 
ships have been freighted with sable victims; New England men 
have assisted in forging the fetters of those who groan in bondage. 

I call upon the ambassadors of Christ everywhere to make 
known this proclamation: “Thus saith the Lord God of the 
Africans, Let this people go, that they may serve me.” I ask 
them to “proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound,”—to light up a flame of philan¬ 
thropy that shall burn till all Africa be redeemed from the night 
of moral death and the song of deliverance be heard throughout 
her borders. 

I call upon the churches of the living God to lead in this great 
enterprise.f If the soul be immortal, priceless, save it from remedi¬ 
less woe. Let them combine their energies, and systematize their 
plans, for the rescue of suffering humanity. Let them pour out 
their supplications to Heaven in behalf of the slave. Prayer is 
omnipotent: its breath can melt adamantine rocks, its touch 
can break the stoutest chains. Let anti-slavery charity-boxes 
stand uppermost among those for missionary, tract, and educational 
purposes. On this subject Christians have been asleep: let 
them shake off their slumbers, and arm for the holy contest. 

I call upon our New England women to form charitable asso¬ 
ciations to relieve the degraded of their sex. As yet an appeal 
to their sympathies was never made in vain. They outstrip us 
in every benevolent race. Females are doing much for the cause 
at the South: let their example be imitated, and their exertions 
surpassed, at the North. 

I call upon our citizens to assist in establishing auxiliary coloni¬ 
zation societies in every State, county, and town. I implore their 
direct and liberal patronage to the parent society. 

I call upon the great body of newspaper editors to keep this 
subject constantly before their readers; to sound the trumpet of 
alarm, and to plead eloquently for the rights of man. They 

* An allusion to the few anti-slavery societies among the Friends in some of the Southern 
States. 

t So Daniel Webster, in his Plymouth oration, Dec. 22, 1820, of the African slave-trade 
and of New England complicity with it : “I invoke the ministers of our religion, that they 
proclaim its denunciation of these crimes, and add its solemn sanctions to the authority of 
human laws. If the pulpit be silent whenever or wherever there may be a sinner bloody with 
this guilt within the hearing of its voice, the pulpit is false to its trust” (Works, i, 46). 

86 


must give the tone to public sentiment. One press may ignite 
twenty; a city may warm a State; a State may impart a generous 
heat to a whole country. 

I call upon the American people to enfranchise a spot over 
which they hold complete sovereignty; to cleanse that worse 
than Augean stable, the District of Columbia, from its foul im¬ 
purities. I ask them to sustain Congress in any future efforts 
to colonize the colored population of the States. I conjure them 
to select those as Representatives who are not too ignorant to know, 
too blind to see, nor too timid to perform their duty. 

I will say, finally, that I despair of the Republic while slavery 
exists therein. If I look up to God for success, no smile of mercy 
or forgiveness dispels the gloom of futurity; if to our own re¬ 
sources, they are daily diminishing; if to all history, our destruc¬ 
tion is not only possible, but almost certain. Why should we 
slumber at this momentous crisis? If our hearts were dead to 
every throb of humanity, if it were lawful to oppress, where power 
is ample, still, if we had any regard for our safety and happiness, 
we should strive to crush the Vampire which is feeding upon our 
life-blood. All the selfishness of our nature cries aloud for a 
better security. Our own vices are too strong for us, and keep 
us in perpetual alarm: how, in addition to these, shall we be able 
to contend successfully with millions of armed and desperate 
men, as we must eventually, if slavery do not cease ? 


William Lloyd Garrison was born in Newburyport, Mass., in 1805. 
After editing a newspaper in Newburyport for some time, he came to Boston 
in 1826, presently becoming editor of a temperance paper here. Benjamin 
Lundy came to Boston from Baltimore about this time, and Garrison 
became acquainted with him and deeply interested in the anti-slavery 
cause, in behalf of which Lundy held his first public meeting in Boston on 
the evening of August 7, 1828, in the vestry of the Federal Street Baptist 
Church. A report of this meeting was sent to the Courier by Mr. Garrison, 
who after the meeting joined in forming an anti-slavery committee of twenty 
members. Later in the same year he became the editor of a paper in 
Bennington, Vt.; but he returned to Boston the next year, and accepted 
an invitation from the Congregational societies of the city to deliver a Fourth 
of July address in Park Street Church in the interest of the Colonization 
Society, announcing as his theme “Dangers to the Nation.” The address 
was printed in full in the National Philanthropist and Investigator, July 
22 and 29, 1829. The important portions of it are printed in the Life of 
William Lloyd Garrison by his sons, vol. i. p. 127, and reprinted here. 
Am ong those who heard Mr. Garrison at the Park Street Church on this 
afternoon of July 4, 1829, were Whittier and John Pierpont, who wrote 

»7 



12 


a special hymn for the occasion, which was sung under the di^pon of 
Lowell Mason, and was used afterwards at many anti-slavery meetings. 
Immediately afterwards Garrison left for Baltimore, to join Lundy in pub¬ 
lishing the “Genius of Universal Emancipation.” Returning to Boston 
after severe hardships and imprisonment in Baltimore, he issued the first 
number of the Liberator on January i, 1831. This number of the Liberator 
has been reprinted as one of the Old South Leaflets, No. 78. See also 
Wendell Phillips’s eulogy of Garrison (No. 79) and other leaflets illustrating 
the anti-slavery movement. 

It is worthy of remembrance that this first anti-slavery address of William 
Lloyd Garrison in Boston was given in Park Street Church,— 

“The Giant, standing by the elm-clad green, 

His white lance lifted o’er the silent scene.” 

Park Street Church has had a great history, even if we forget that “America” 
was there first sung, with Edward Everett Hale as one of tha boys in the 
Fourth of July audience, and that there Garrison gave his address on July 
4, 1829. The first rendering of “America” took place in Park Street 
church just three years later, July 4, 1832, and fortunately we have an 
account of it from Dr. Smith’s own hand. Lowell Mason was the musical 
director on this historical occasion also. Much of his great work for our 
church music was associated with Park Street Church; and this identifica¬ 
tion of the composer of our strongest and dearest old native church tunes 
with this finest of our old New England churches is grateful. Park Street 
church helped to organize the first Sunday-school in Boston, and it is inter¬ 
esting that in its own Sunday-school room “America” should have been 
first sung. The early Park Street Singing Society was most influential in 
the musical history of Boston. The place of the church in missionary his¬ 
tory has been conspicuous. In 1849 the American Peace Society began to 
hold its annual conventions here, and this remained the place of its meet¬ 
ings for a dozen years. At the first meeting here Charles Sumner was the 
speaker, giving his great address on “The War System of Nations,” perhaps 
the greatest single address on Peace and War ever given in America or in 
the world. 


PUBLISHED BY 

THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 


88 










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